This weekend marked a new milestone in Wander the Rainbow history: the last stop on a book tour that’s spanned eight months and as many cities.

The locale this time was the Los Angeles area, America’s second-largest metro area — though the event in particular was held, perhaps appropriately for a travel book, at a store in Old Town Pasadena, one of the region’s oldest districts, dating back to the 1880s (practically Paleozoic for the American Southwest).

Only a couple of weeks separated this event from my last one in America’s largest city, New York, and the contrast between these two urban behemoths on opposite coasts could not be greater: in New York I braved snow and cold, while in SoCal I strolled with one of my friends (and her adorable pug, Hans) on a beach in Malibu this past Sunday. The sun was resplendent, the sea a sparkling blue, and the weather an L.A.-perfect 70something degrees.

For me, however, L.A. holds different significance than New York; I know the place a lot better, having lived there myself a number of years back. Still, its rep as a not-so-literary movie company town made me almost as nervous about this event as I was about my last one in publishing’s imperial capital. Once again, that nagging fear: would anyone show up?

Answer: yes! Distant Lands, the travel bookstore-cum-outfitter, has a crowd of regulars who file in for their biweekly Monday lectures. The place is done up with classic living room furniture and old maps. Guidebooks and travel works pepper the shelves, while the rest of the store contains items that make the travel-obsessed salivate: packing cubes, backpacks, bug repellent… if you’re going overseas and live in Southern California, this place is a definite must-visit.

To further enhance the event, I demoed some of their wares as part of my presentation: from wheeled backpacks to — arguably the most useful item I took with me on my travels — lightweight, easy-wash, quick-drying underwear. Yes, it is possible to traverse the globe on three pairs of undies if these are the ones in your luggage.

With this pleasant finale event out of the way, Wander the Rainbow is headed in new directions: we’ll continue to book speaking engagements for groups, associations, travel meetups, and the like. Check our events page to see where we’re going next.

However, for you prospective, on-the-fence e-book buyers, we have something even better in store to celebrate eight months in print and the conclusion of our official tour:

All Wander the Rainbow e-books for Amazon Kindle, Apple iBookstore, and Barnes & Noble NOOK are now priced at $2.99!

Now you can travel around the world for the price of a cappuccino back home.

For all of you who attended our events, a hearty thanks; we hope to continue to build our base of fans… and I for one hope to start working on my next book for you to enjoy.

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